Met To Refuse Sackler Money As It Revamps Fundraising Practices

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Metropolitan Museum of Art is cutting ties with one of its largest donors as the institution moves to revamp its fundraising policies, museum executives announced.

The Upper East Side institution will no longer accept money from the Sackler family of Purdue Pharma, Met president Daniel Weiss said. Purdue, the manufacturer of the opioid OxyContin, has settled multi-million lawsuits with several states for its role in America's opioid crisis and was just sued this week by five more states including Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, West Virginia and Wisconsin, according to reports.

The Met will not rename the "Sackler Wing" in its Fifth Avenue building, which is home to the highly-popular Temple of Dendur and other works from the museum's Egyptian art collection.

"The Sackler family has graciously supported The Met for 50 years and has not proposed any new contributions," Weiss said in a statement. "Nonetheless, in consideration of the ongoing litigation, the prudent course of action at this time is to suspend acceptance of gifts from individuals associated with this public health crisis."

Going forward, the Met will examine its policies on accepting "significant" gifts that would result in the Met renaming a portion of its museum. The museum's board of directors codified a process that will require any such gift to be approved at multiple levels including staff within the development, legal and finance departments, staff in the relevant programmatic department, a trustee committee and the full board of trustees.

The Met does receive public funding, but the vast majority of its $320 million operating budget comes from private philanthropy, museum executives said. Private donations have also bolstered the museum's massive art collection.

"Every object and much of the building itself came from individuals driven by a love for art and the spirit of philanthropy. For this reason, it is our responsibility to ensure that the public is aware of the diligence that we take to generate philanthropic support. Our donors deserve this, and the public should expect it," Weiss said in a statement.